The Art of Love
by Masigla
Summary: She sometimes wondered if her undying love for art was getting in the way of the spirit of being a teenager. Will a new face bring what has been missing all along? [NaminéxRoxas] [SoraxKairi]
1. o0 Prologue

**The Art of Love**  
_Masigla_

' '

Author's Notes:  
Hey, everyone! I'm here today with a new fic for y'all! I know, I know, on top of _Seasons of Love_ and _Awkward Silence_, I've decided to put a larger burden of myself by starting on this! XD! YAY! It's an alternate-universe thing, with our favorite characters as sophomores in high school (which, surprise, surprise! -- is named 'Destiny High'.). The story mostly revolves around my favorite character, Naminé (yeah, get over it XP), but don't worry, of course it will contain dangerous levels of fluff (mostly SK ones, myah!)! And I _swear_, if I stop typing now I'll end up watching the ending of KH2 and spoiling it all. So I'm going of on a tangent. This is my hope, y'all—I can't afford to be bored, or else I'll end up doing that. x----x;

This is the prologue. It's really pointless, but I posted it anyways. XD

Disclaimer:  
Kingdom Hearts © Square-Enix & Disney

' '

_&&_ **oo. **It Starts

-

"Naminé," Kairi stood in the doorway of the Fujiwara household. It was a well-made house, a little bigger than the rest, but not by too much. Kairi could say the same for herself. She was the daughter of the Mayor, after all. "Are you ready?"

"Coming!" the blonde said, rushing into the main hallway of her house, sweeping her book bag from the floor and slinging it over her shoulder. She then hurriedly put on her shoes, made sure they fit snugly, and looked up at her auburn-haired friend. "Let's go."

"So, are you looking forward to sophomore year?" Naminé asked (for a lack of a better topic) as she and her best friend, Kairi, walked to Destiny High.

"Yeah, I guess so," Kairi laughed softly, "I'm personally so glad we don't have the same teachers as last year, and now we get to boss the freshmen around."

Naminé giggled. "It'll be the best when we're seniors, though."

"Not really, because we'd have to all start preparing for college… and stuff."

"I guess you're right." Naminé shrugged. Looking ahead, she spotted two of her other best friends—one was a year older than her, with silver hair that stood out like a sore thumb, and the other was a year older as well, her brown hair swaying lightly in the gentle breeze.

"Orette, Riku!" Kairi called out having seen the two herself, waving her hand up in the air enthusiastically. The two younger ones hastened their steps as the two smiled at them.

"Hey Kairi, hey Naminé!" Orette greeted.

"You're walking to school today, Naminé? I was expecting Heine to drive you to school or something." Riku said, chuckling. He was referring to Naminé's older brother—Heine, who was in the same grade as Orette and Riku.

"He _did_ go to Driver's Ed over the summer," Naminé sighed, "and he _did_ get a student's license, but he refused to take me to school because he thought it would deduct from his '_coolness points'_."

Her companions laughed, along with herself.

"That's _so_ Heine," Kairi said in between her long trail of laughter.

"How many did he date over the summer?" Orette asked. Naminé rolled her eyes as she shook her head and answered,

"I don't even want to think about _that_.". Again, her friends laughed.

The four started moving their feet, walking and talking on the way to school as they each told tales of humor from their summer vacation. Naminé didn't talk as much—after all, she had spent nearly all her summer sitting somewhere, sketching or painting. She had visited a couple of places with her family, but all she did do at those places was sit somewhere, sketching or painting. She sometimes wondered if her undying love for art was getting in the way of the spirit of being a teenager. If not doing the previously mentioned, she was either sleeping, eating, reading, or talking on the phone with someone. It was a quiet summer for her.

Upon arriving at the gates of Destiny High, the four reunited with the rest of their friends—or so they thought—Selphie, Tidus, Wakka, and Pints. Wakka and Pints were in their Junior year along with Riku, Heine and Orette as well.

"Where's Heine?" Naminé asked after the hugs and the greetings, though something inside told her that she already knew the answer.

Selphie jerked her head towards her right, where the parking lot was located, "Over there, showing off his so-called 'previously owned' car."

"Why doesn't he just call it _used_?" Tidus said sarcastically.

Pints laughed, "Apparently, that's ten points—"

"—deducted from his _coolness points_." finished the rest of the crew. Everything that made more sense deducted points to Heine's coolness points.

"We officially have twelve minutes until school starts, everyone." Kairi announced. "Where's Sora?"

"I don't know—maybe he lost track of time?" Orette answered. If there was one thing they all knew about their spiky brown-haired friend well, it was that he often overslept, lost track of time, or both.

"We should all get him a rubber chicken for his birthday," Tidus dumbly suggested, receiving stares from everyone else, "that way we can just squeeze it and he'll wake up."

"Sure thing, then. Is anyone weird enough to barge into Sora's room every morning to squeeze a rubber chicken?" Riku said as-a-matter-of-factly as he folded his arms across his well-built chest and smirked at the apparent silence that passed, "I thought so."

"His mom could do it," Tidus debated.

"I doubt Mrs. Erizawa would even approve of that." Kairi added.

"It was a good idea while it lasted…" Tidus sighed in defeat. "What about we just make him pay 5 munny for every time he oversleeps or loses track of time?"

"And where will the money go?" Orette inquired. Tidus, in reply, shrugged.

"Maybe," Naminé spoke out softly, "we could use that money for our outings and…. stuff?"

The others exchanged glances, "That will make us… _rich_, man." Wakka commented. The others couldn't agree more on how much money that would bring them if that plan was implemented.

"I say we just let him be," Kairi defended. "It's no use changing the ways of a lazy bum, after all."

"Officially seven minutes and a half remaining of summer vacation." Pints said. All groaned.

"Hey, guuuuuys!" a familiar voice yelled from a distance. The entire crew jerked their heads towards the direction of the gate. Sora had finally arrived—but that wasn't all—he was pulling along a blonde, with features subtly similar to Sora's (namely the spiky hair and blue eyes), to which the group of friends was not in any way familiar with.

"Guys," Sora addressed his friend as he and his blonde friend were panting from the apparent rushing, "this is my… cousing… Roxas. They just.. moved here.. and now he's… going to school with us… sophomore year!"

Naminé suddenly found her self staring dumbly at the blonde—there was something striking about his eyes… Sure, they were identical to that of Sora's, but everyone knew Sora was now off-limits, so no one bothered, but _Roxas'_ eyes…

"Rox…what?" Selphie tilted her head in confusion, "Your name is so hard to pronounce—"

"It really isn't, Selph—"

"Ssh! No interrupting!" She glared at Tidus, "From this day on you shall be known as… BHK."

"BHK?" the cousin asked, obvious confusing tainting his eyes.

"Blonde-haired-kid!" Selphie explained. "Okay? OKAY!"

"That's Selphie," Kairi smiled at him, "You'll get used to her hyperness. My name's Kairi,"

"Yeah, I know." Roxas rolled his eyes to the direction of Sora, who merely blushed. The others laughed. Sora and Kairi had been an item since the beginning of summer vacation: when Sora went away for a week, Kairi found herself missing him in a way that no friend would, and called him up spontaneously and said, "_I miss you. When are you coming home?", _muffled with tears. The two then talked for a long time after that, ending with confessions. And since then, they had been an item.

A long string of introductions followed:

"The soon-to-be six-footer over there is—"

"Riku. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Orette!"

"She's the 'ask Amy' of our grade. We think she should get a column in the school newspaper for all that she does."

"I'm Tidus, and this is Wakka."

"Nice to meet you, muhn."

"Those two are blitzball freaks. I'm Selphie!"

"She's on sugar half the time, so watch out for her."

"Watch it, Tidus!"

"Anyways, I'm Pints."

"…he stalks girls with his camera."

"I do not!"

"Haha, Riku's just playing—Pints is a photographer for the school newspaper and junk."

"That's better."

"There you are, Heine! Where the hell were you?"

"Over there, with my previously owned—"

"—used—"

"No, _previously owned_, car. I have myself a date this Friday!"

"Moving on to more important matters, meet my cousin, Roxas. He just moved here."

"His new name is BHK."

"Oh, nice to meet'cha. I'm Heine. Stay away from my sis and we're good."

"Heine!"

"Haha, Heine's Naminé's big brother. Don't worry about it—he says that to every new guy who comes to this school. Watch him say that to all the freshmen."

"Geez, I'm not _that _stupid!"

Naminé looked away in embarrassment. What did she expect? Her big brother was that of hypocritical Heine—one who claims that one as young as Naminé should not have any relationships, and one who had already at least 6 girlfriends (consecutively) by the time he was her age.

"GUYS! Five minutes until class!"

"Oh, shit, we better get inside!"

"Alright, I'll see you guys later," Riku waved as he, Wakka, and Heine headed to the Juniors' hallway—where the lockers were 2 inches bigger and the air-conditioning was 5 percent better and where Orette and Pints had already arrived. The sophomores—Sora, Kairi, Naminé, Selphie, Tidus, and now Roxas, walked together to the Sophomores' hallway, which wasn't as good s the Juniors' or the Seniors', but indeed it was an improvement from the Freshmen's which they occupied last year.

Each student got their schedules in their mail along with a set of textbooks, which they were to keep in their house. There were copies of the same books in each classroom—depending on the teacher. This system made it so that students wouldn't have to carry textbooks everywhere.

Selphie peered over Kairi's shoulder, who was reading her schedule, "Oh man, we don't have the same homeroom—hey Tidus, what about—oh, no! Oh my God, I'm not in any of you guys' homerooms!"

"Aww," Naminé said softly. She was in Ms. Takahashi's—the sophomore and junior art teacher--homeroom. There was another teacher for the freshmen and the seniors, which didn't really make sense, but that's how it went. "Are any one of you guys in Ms. Takahashi's?"

"I am," Roxas blurted out. Naminé smiled at the boy (or at least she tried her hardest to—she was still embarrassed about earlier). "is she nice?"

"I don't know," Naminé replied, "this is the first year we've had her. But I heard from Orette that she is."

"That's cool."

"I'm in Mr. Kanagaki's.. P.E. teacher." Tidus stated. "I guess I'll be heading to homeroom, then. Bye guys!"

"Bye, Tidus!" Selphie waved. "So, what about you, Kairi?"

The auburn-haired girl glanced over to her boyfriend's schedule. "Mr. Inoue."

"Same as me!" Sora added with a cheesy grin.

"Oh jeez," Selphie rolled her eyes, "You guys are gonna like, make out in homeroom."

"Selphie!" Kairi exclaimed, turning bright red.

"Haha, just kidding! Okay, okay! I'm leaving! I'm leaving!" Selphie retreated.

"Okay, so…" Sora turned to his cousin, "Since you and Naminé are in the same homeroom, I guess you guys could like, bond or something."

"Yeah, okay." Roxas replied. Naminé simply nodded. Sora and Kairi then smiled at the two, then took held hands as they departed for Mr. Inoue's classroom.

Naminé glanced over to the clock in the hallway. Despite the near-tardiness situation, there were still many students in the hallway, obviously not back into the school groove as of yet. "We have something like… 50 seconds. We better hurry."

"Okay." Roxas nodded as he and Naminé started for the classroom. "So, Naminé… what kinds of stuff do you like?"

_That was when sophomore year started, or, junior year, for some of them—but nevertheless, it was a year very different than their last—in the sense that things were beginning to change._

' '

Author's Endnotes:  
Yeah, I know—that was an entirely pointless chapter. XD Well, it's basically a prologue for what's to come… but still really pointless. I'm sorry if that was a totally bland chapter.


	2. o1 An Unexplainable Passion

**The Art of Love**  
_MASiGLA_

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Author's Notes:  
Yay! I'm personally really glad about the positive feedback I've gotten so far for this fanfic. I'd like to thank all the reviewers! I heart you all.

Hey, did you guys know that Tidus and Selphie are actually one year younger than Kairi and Sora? I initially freaked when I found out about that, and thought maybe I should change this so that they're freshmen… but oh well. I'll just make it so that they're just a couple months younger, but still able to be sophomores.. you know, like… the youngest people in the batch. Ahahaha!

**This chapter jumps forward a couple of weeks. The previous chapter was only a prologue about how they met Roxas and so forth.**

Disclaimer:  
Kingdom Hearts © Square-Enix & Disney

' '

_&&_ **o1. **An Unexplainable Passion

-

**F**or the past couple of weeks that she was a sophomore, Naminé had not the time to do any art. She and the others were swamped with homework, tests, quizzes, projects and the like. On top of the homework, her parents have had a lot of people coming over at night for dinner, and she had to be present at all times so they could brag about her talent. Heine was often exempted from having to be present because they knew how he'd behave if he had to miss a date of his.

Naminé often felt that all her parent's hopeful expectations were set upon her shoulders, since Heine obviously was not capable of doing so. It brought upon a lot of pressure on the girl—and she didn't like having to live up to people's expectations.

"Naminé…" said Naminé's mother, Adeline, as she entered Naminé's bedroom. "It's time to wake up, dear." Naminé could feel her mother sit down on her bed. She turned to her side, then back. Upon opening her eyes, the white color that conquered the majority of her room slightly blinded her eyes and woke her up immediately.

"Morning, mom." Naminé smiled as she sat up. She was entirely grateful that her mom still had time for her and Heine like this, to be able to wake them up and spend time with them. Her mother stayed home a lot to work on paintings or sculptures, but also went out sometime to talk to other artists. Sadly, she couldn't say the same for her father, who was way too busy.

"Be downstairs in ten minutes, okay?" Adeline gave Naminé a brief hug and left the room, closing the door on her way out. Naminé watched as her mother exited. She, herself, was a carbon copy of her mother when it came to appearance. They both had those icy blue eyes, and that long, flowing, golden hair, and the pale skin. Her mother was from New Twilight—and Naminé recalled her numerous visits there with her family, and how she eventually had to learn French, because it was a French-speaking country. She also eventually had to learn English as well. She wished she could be excused from learning a language in school since she already knew three, but they required her to, and thus she took Spanish.

Throwing her legs gracefully to the side of her bed, she stood up and stretched, then walked groggily over to her walk-in closet and pulled on her school uniform. Then she walked over to her vanity table, also donned in white, sat down, and brushed her hair. Naminé was the kind to wear her hair down most of the time, except when she was sculpting something—which she didn't do much of, anyways. She also wasn't the type to wear makeup to school everyday. She knew Kairi was like this as well, though she also knew that Kairi did wear some mascara now and then.

Grabbing her icy blue backpack, which, coincidentally enough, almost matched perfectly with her eye color and slinging it over her right shoulder, she trotted downstairs, where Heine and her mother were already busy eating breakfast.

"Where's dad?" Naminé asked as she hung her backpack on the backrest of her chair and sat down.

"He finished working really late last night, Naminé… scheduling another get-together with a famous art connoisseur from Spira. Naminé nodded along as she meticulously graced butter onto her piece of toast. Someone coming from Spira meant Naminé had to speak in English, while someone coming from New Twilight meant speaking in French.

Naminé's parents (as well as her family) were well known in the art world. Her grandfather, Shino Fujiwara (on the father side) owned a small, but well developed and prestigious museum downtown. Her mother and her family were well known in New Twilight (whose capital was called Twilight Town, which was also her mother's hometown) because of their amazing art talents. The marriage of Naminé's parents symbolized the bridge between two very powerful art-associated families.

At 7:00 AM sharp, the doorbell of the Fujiwara Household rang. Naminé got up and answered the door, and welcomed Kairi, Selphie and Orette in. The girls always came over to Naminé's before going to school in her car, which was chauffeured by Matsuzawa-san (as they called him), the family driver. Heine and Naminé used to go to school together before he learned how to drive. Naminé felt a little alone having to go to school by herself since then, so her friends volunteered to carpool with her every morning, despite the fact that Kairi had her own driver to take her, since she was the mayor's daughter. She _did_ walk to school sometimes, such as on the first day of school, when her dad needed Matsuzawa early in the morning.

"Agh, I'm so screwed for our social studies test, Naminé! Save me!" Selphie threw her arms around Naminé and pretended to cry.

"It shouldn't be a problem if you read the book, Selphie… don't worry." Naminé reassured.

"See, that's the thing," Kairi folded her arms, "she _didn't _read the book." The book they were referring to was their summer reading book for social studies, entitled _Home in the Islands_, which was a book written by a girl who lived a long time ago in Destiny Islands, and described everything that happened in her life in great detail. This provided historians with plentiful knowledge of what life was like back then.

Orette sighed, "And I can't give her the answers to it, either, because one, that would be considered cheating, and two, Ms. Hiirigizawa changes the test every year just to make sure."

"Oh well, Selphie… I'm sure we can tell you as much about it as we can in the car." Naminé patted Selphie's back and Selphie let go.

"I hope so!"

"Alright, just let me grab my stuff and we'll go," Naminé told her friends. They waited in the living room as usual as Naminé got her backpack from the breakfast table in the kitchen and slung it over her shoulder. Heine left earlier because he forgot one of his binders, which contained a worksheet that had to be done over the night in his locker.

The four girls hopped into the black car, with Naminé in the passenger seat, and the three in the back. As usual, Matsuzawa-san was driving.

"Everyone buckled in?" he asked. Everyone replied with a chipper "Yes!" and he pulled out of the Fujiwara driveway.

As they drove through the streets, Kairi and Orette told Selphie as much as they could about the book, while Naminé added in a couple of details—even Matsuzawa helped—but generally, Naminé just stared out the window. She watched a couple of familiar faces from school walk there, or bike, or whatever preferred means of transportation.

Either Kairi couldn't recognize her own boyfriend, she was too absorbed into helping Selphie out, or she didn't care at all, but Naminé saw him walking to school. Roxas was way ahead of him on a skateboard.

_Wait_, Naminé thought, _skateboard?_

She never knew that about Roxas. But then again, the two hadn't really talked. He mostly stuck with his cousin, and Pints or Heine or Riku or Tidus or Wakka. He hadn't interacted much with the girls, except for Kairi, when she'd come over to Sora's house.

She couldn't help but stare at him—his blonde spikes bending back from the speed he was going at on his blue skateboard, the peaceful yet adventurous look on his face… wait, what was she thinking? She thanked her dad for thinking of getting a car with tinted windows, because if he had seen her staring at him through her car's windows, who knew what form of mockery would come later from one of the guys.

At last, they approached the school. Matsuzawa pulled up in front of the entrance.

"Your mother wants you back at home by 4:30, Miss Fujiwara—for the dinner."

"Okay. Thanks, Matsuzawa." Naminé said as she closed the car door and he drove off. Naminé usually walked home instead of getting picked up, because by 3:00, her dad needed the car a lot and went to a lot of places.

In perfect timing, Roxas, followed by Sora, arrived right after they did.

"Okay, so you have to remember that—Sora!" Kairi's attention immediately turned to Sora as she hugged him and he kissed her on the lips briefly.

"Oh gods, not now, Kairi!" Selphie pulled Kairi away from Sora, "I have social studies first period!" she said frantically as she pulled Kairi into the building. Naminé and the others followed them.

"Well, I'll see you guys later, then." Orette said as they neared the junior hallway. She waved goodbye and walked off to join Pints and Heine, who were already there.

Naminé and Roxas walked beside each other, while a few meters ahead, Selphie was still attempting to memorize a lot of details beside Kairi, who was beside Sora.

"Wow, she's really screwed for this test." Roxas blurted out in an attempt to start a conversation.

"I guess so," Naminé laughed softly, "this happens to Selphie all the time, we're used to it, but one day she's going to have to fend for herself."

"That's true." Roxas nodded. He looked at the girl walking beside him, who was a little shorter by him. She looked so serene and content, like she didn't want any more in life than just to be in school with her friends. On the other hand, he… well, he didn't even know what he wanted out of life just yet.

"Umm, this is gonna sound weird," Naminé said, "but I saw you skateboarding to school this morning… I didn't know you knew how to skateboard."

"Well, I haven't been skateboarding to school 'cuz… it just got fixed… It got broken on the flight here from New Twilight—"

"Oh, you used to live in New Twilight?" Naminé asked. He nodded.

"Uh-huh."

"Parlez-vous le français?" (Do you speak French?), she said. Roxas was a little surpised.

"Oui." (Yes.) he replied. "Wow, your accent is almost flawless."

She giggled, "Well if you lived in New Twilight, you gotta know French. I go there a lot, because my mom was born there."

"That's coo—waiiiit. Naminé, what's your last name again?"

"Fujiwara." She answered him.

"Seriously?"

"Yup."

"Wow." Roxas' blue orbs widened; "Your family's pretty well known in New Twilight, you know."

"I know." she smiled at him warmly.

"So do you paint a lot and stuff?"

"I do sketches mostly, but I do a lot of paintings too. My sculpting is pretty bad, though, and I'm not too fond of it."

"Wow, so it runs in the family... except your brother, I guess."

"Heine?" Naminé rolled her eyes; "He's… an artist, in his own perverted and incomprehensible way."

Roxas laughed, "Nice one."

They all went their separate ways as they approached the sophomore hallway. Naminé opened her locker and checked the schedule, which was taped on the back of the door. It was Wednesday, and she had English first period. Then she glanced onto the overhead clock in the hallway, which read 7:20—enough time for Selphie to continue cramming, she thought. She preferred to get to school early and avoid the traffic and the crowded hallways, and so did most of her friends. She unpacked her backpack, and pulled out her English binder and her pencil case and headed over to Kairi's locker, where Selphie and Sora were.

"YES!" Selphie exclaimed, "I think I actually might pass this!" She raised a fist into the air in triumph, then ran off to her locker to get her things and unpack. Kairi sighed.

"I swear, that girl sometimes…" Kairi smiled at Sora and he smiled back at her, "Hey Naminé, Matsuzawa said you guys had another dinner tonight."

"Yeah, we do… we've been having a lot lately." she said, watching as Sora wrapped his arms around Kairi from behind. She was a little tempted to roll her eyes—but she didn't. She loved how the two were finally together, but sometimes they didn't really need to bring their romance into school, right? The gang often hung out which each other over the weekend, and they got a lot of Sora and Kairi PDA from that. "But I don't mind, I guess."

Sora whispered something into Kairi's ear and she giggled. Naminé smiled a little anxiously. "Uhh, I'll see you guys later."

"Okay, Naminé." Kairi giggled again as Sora kissed her cheek. This time, since she had her back towards them and they couldn't see her, she _did _roll her eyes.

"Haha, they just can't get enough of each other, can they?" Roxas commented as he joined her in walking. To where, she wasn't sure herself, but she just felt like she didn't need to be talking to Kairi while Sora was practically all over Kairi.

"It's a little annoying sometimes." Naminé admitted. Immediately, since her little conversation with Roxas a while ago, she felt like could trust him. She didn't know how that made sense, but it just… did. He had this trustworthy aura to him.

"Tell me about it," Roxas agreed, "whenever Kairi comes over, oh boy… I swear, at the rate those two are going, they're gonna have premarital—"

Naminé coughed purposefully to cut him off.

"Right. Ahaha." Roxas felt a little embarrassed. For a second there, he felt like he was talking to someone he had known for awhile, or someone like Heine. But Naminé wasn't like her brother at all. He looked at her again and noticed her long eyelashes and her icy blue eyes. Wow, they were just… mesmerizing.

"So, Naminé…"

"Hmm?"

"I wanna see you paint or draw something." She stopped in her tracks. Roxas noticed she stopped and looked back.

"Why?" Naminé questioned. The rest of the gang… it wasn't that they didn't care about Naminé's art—they loved her art—but they didn't really care about the effort or the way she accomplished the work. Roxas had been the first to ask her such a question.

"I just… want to." Roxas looked away, "Umm, is that ok with you?"

Naminé shook her head, "Yeah, it's okay." By then they were in the main hall of the school, which had a fountain in the middle of it. Obviously, Destiny Islands put a lot of money into the school. The two sat beside each other on the rim of the fountain, which wasn't running at the time. Naminé opened her English binder and took out a pencil from her pencil case and turned to a fresh piece of loose-leaf paper.

"What do you want me to draw?" she asked him, looking him straight into the eye. Roxas was startled a bit, and found himself staring abruptly into her eyes before answering "Anything you want."

"Hmm…" Naminé thought for a while.

She didn't know what came over her, but it was like her hand took a life of its own. Pencil lead danced gracefully, precisely and skillfully on the paper. There were a lot of straight lines that formed acute angles. Eventually, a face formed. She continued.

Roxas watched her silently as she was immediately immersed in her drawing. She was so immersed; she didn't notice him staring at her serious face.

"Done." She said after a couple of minutes. Roxas immediately stopped staring before she caught him. She gasped, as if she herself didn't know what sort of creation she made. Roxas looked at the piece of paper.

She drew him. She drew Roxas, just as she saw him on his skateboard in the morning.


	3. o2 Misunderstanding

**Masigla says**, yay! Mwahahaha… I'm trying to make up for all the non-updating-ness so… you better give me reviews. xD –has nothing else to say-

Oh yeah. I'm going to start spelling the three Twilight Town people's names according to how it was in some sites… supposedly this is the correct spelling but we'll see when the game comes out. But for the time being I'm changing it to _Hayner, Pence and Olette._

Just a little more 'till Kingdom Hearts II is in our hands!

* * *

**The Art of Love**  
_Masigla_

_Roxas watched her silently as she was immediately immersed in her drawing. She was so immersed; she didn't notice him staring at her serious face._

"_Done." She said after a couple of minutes. Roxas immediately stopped staring before she caught him. She gasped, as if she herself didn't know what sort of creation she made. Roxas looked at the piece of paper._

_She drew him. She drew Roxas, just as she saw him on his skateboard in the morning._

_

* * *

_

Chapter Two  
_Misunderstanding_

"Hey," Roxas squinted his eyes as Naminé's were still wide open in shock, "is that… me?"

Naminé didn't know how to reply to his inquiry. Would he get mad if she said yes? "I guess so… It does look like you, right?"

"Yeah." He blinked a couple of times, as if he didn't comprehend. "It's really accurate… It's like you completely memorized the memory of me skateboarding this morning."

Naminé blushed slightly from embarrassment, "I… I have a good memory… it's close to being photographic but it's not quite that."

"I see," the curious boy said, taking the binder from her and examining it with his eyes, "this is real good, Naminé. I like it."

"Thanks, Roxas." She said. Even though Selphie had established his nickname to be BHK, no one actually called him that except for Selphie. "I think we better get going to class."

"Good idea." Roxas stood up. He handed her the binder back as she stood up and straightened herself out. By this time, a lot of people had already arrived and were roaming the halls. Roxas still had to stop by the lockers and get his stuff before heading to his first period class, while Naminé already had her English things and could just start on her way. They parted ways, bidding each other goodbye with a "See you later", then leaving.

At lunch, the group sat together as usual, minus Hayner who was sitting with the cheerleaders. It wasn't like he sat with them at lunch anyways. Olette claimed to have never witnessed him sitting at their table unless he was miraculously single, which didn't come by often.

The rest of the day came pretty much like an ordinary day after that morning. Naminé went to her classes, took notes, doodling, staring out the window, getting up and going to the next class, and it went on.

When dismissal time came, Naminé found no one was there to walk home with. Riku had student council business to attend to, neither Sora nor Kairi could be found, Selphie had tennis practice, Olette and Pence had school newspaper things to do, Tidus and Wakka had blitzball, Roxas had probably zoomed off on his skateboard for he too was nowhere to be found, and Hayner… well, that needed no further explanation.

She sighed as she stepped out of the school gates and started for home. It was so boring without anyone to walk home with, and it made her feel weird for not having an after-school activity. Kairi and Sora didn't have one either, but everyone would just say they had each other, so it didn't matter. Naminé—well, she didn't have anyone. She did have her art, but she felt lonely sometimes just sitting there painting or sketching something.

After what seemed like an eternity of walking through the humble streets, she arrived at her house, where her mother welcomed her before briskly walking back into the kitchen. She seemed busy preparing for this night's guests. Her dad was on the phone on a seemingly important call, and Matsuzawa was cleaning some of the windows.

"Good afternoon, Miss Fujiwara." He greeted with chipper, then turned back to wipe the windows with a moist towel in a circular motion. Taking off her shoes, Naminé trudged upstairs where she dumped her backpack by her door and then stepped out the French doors into the balcony. The sea breeze was great and exhilarated Naminé. She stood there, in her Destiny High uniform, with her golden hair flowing with the gentle wind.

She closed her eyes and let the breeze relax her. It was like meditating—except she wasn't sitting down in some fancy style with her fingers positioned in a specific way. She was interrupted when she heard a car pull up into the driveway of Kairi's house, which was right next to Naminé's.

Naminé watched as Kairi's father, the mayor got out of the car in a hustle while her mother got out and followed him with a slower pace. Kairi, their only child, got out slowly. Then Naminé noticed something amiss.

Kairi was crying.

"What's going on?" Naminé thought. She went back inside her room, shutting the French doors closed and attempting to open the door to her room to get out and visit Kairi when Matsuzawa appeared at the bottom of the stairwell.

"Are you going anywhere, Miss Fujiwara?"

"Umm," Naminé stopped mid-track, "I was going to visit Kairi next door."

"Oh, I'm afraid you can't do that right now, miss. Your mom told me to tell you that you should start preparing. Your guest shall be here in only a few moments."

"Oh," Naminé expressed a look of disappointment, even though she knew it wouldn't work because Matsuzawa wouldn't be able to do anything about it. "That's fine. Thanks for telling me."

"No problem, miss."

Naminé walked back into her room and peeked out the windows before changing. Sora and Kairi were together on her porch, hugging each other tightly as Kairi seemed to be crying even more than Naminé first saw while Sora stroked her auburn hair. She really wanted to escape, now. She wanted to run down there and comfort her best friend, too. She decided to call Kairi immediately after the dinner and started preparing.

She was clad in a white dress. It was beautiful. Naminé loved that dress. She had gotten it the year before at a designer's boutique in Twilight Town. It was a halter, and the end of the dress ended at around her knees and each layer was cut unevenly at the ends, yet it was stylish. She paraded in front of the full-length mirror before putting on white sandals with laces that went up half her lower leg and putting her hair up in a bun.

' '

Ding, dong.

"Oh my goodness, that must be her!" Naminé heard her mother shuffle across the second floor and rush down the stairs. All the while after she was done preparing, Naminé had been doing her homework in front of the TV. Her mom came in once and checked if she was wearing something nice, and received complements before going back down to make last-minute preparations.

"Naminé, your mother wants you downstairs!" Matsuzawa said after knocking briefly on her door. Naminé struggled to get her stuff in place and straighten her dress out before meeting the guest.

"Oh, and this is Naminé, our youngest daughter coming down the stairs!" Adeline announced. The woman standing by the door had long, brown hair, teal eyes and fair skin. Naminé smiled as she approached the woman.

"Naminé, this is Miss Charlotte Clare, from New Twilight. She runs the _Beauregard Academy of Arts_, right outside Twilight Town."

"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Clare." Naminé curtseyed.

"You can call me Charlotte, Naminé." Charlotte smiled, "Your parents have told me of your amazing art talent. Are these all your works displayed in the hallways?"

"Yes, indeed, ma'am."

"Wow, that's quite a lot for a fifteen-year-old like yourself."

"Naminé has a profound passion for art," her father stated. Naminé stayed silent—this was oftentimes how dinners went. Her parents and the guest did most of the talking, while Naminé sat there like a prized trophy on display. Sometimes she wished she could do something bad, just to get out of having to do this like Hayner could, but she knew that if she did that, she would regret it.

When the four sat down to dinner, boring conversations ensued. Halfway through, she suddenly remembered Kairi and couldn't stop worrying. She found herself mercilessly poking at the singular pea on her plate, her face showing that of extreme immersion in something other than what was being discussed at the table.

Finally, it was time for Miss Clare to depart. They bade her goodbye, and watched as she drove off into the night. After her departure, Naminé's parents brought up an important subject.

"Where's your brother?"

Naminé shrugged, "On a date?"

The two of them sighed, as if they were almost hopeless of their older child.

"Alright, we'll wait up for him. You can go to sleep now, Naminé… if you've done all your homework." Adeline said.

"I have, don't worry." Naminé yawned as she bade her parents a good night and went upstairs into her room, immediately grasping the phone. She swiftly dialed her best friend's cellphone number.

"_Hello, this is Kairi. I'm not able to answer your call right now, sorry, so leave a message after the beep."_

Naminé decided to try again.

"_Hello, this is Kairi. I'm not able to answer your call right now, sorry, so leave a message after the beep."_

Third time's the charm, they say.

"_Hello, this is Kairi. I'm not able to answer your call right now, sorry, so leave a message after the beep."_

Naminé sighed. "What's going on… she couldn't be asleep, it's only 10:30." She decided to call their home phone.

"Hey, Sakagami residence."

Naminé was in shock at first.

"…Sora?"

"OH. Uhh, hey, Naminé! What's up?"

"…why are you in Kairi's house this late at night…"

"Uhh, long story."

"…"

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"What do you think?"

"Okay," Sora hushed his voice, as if what he was about to say was to be kept secret, "Naminé. You're Kairi's best friend so I can trust you with this, Kairi—"

And the line was cut off.

"Sora? Sora!" Naminé called into the phone, hoping to somehow get a response. This was when she started getting real worried.

' '

"Kairi…" Sora looked at his girlfriend. Her finger was pressed onto the plunger of the phone's base, cutting off the call. Her eyes were puffy from crying and she had a desperate look on her face.

"Please, Sora." Kairi cried out softly, "Don't tell anyone yet. Even if it's Naminé."

"Kairi… they're going to find out sooner or later. You should tell them instead of them finding out themselves."

"I know, Sora… but… I'm afraid."

"You shouldn't be." He hugged her again. "It's not your fault…"

' '

Naminé set down the phone on her nightstand. Now she was just completely confused. So Sora was at Kairi's house late at night and was going to tell her something he wasn't supposed to when oh joy, the timing was perfect and his call got cut off.

She changed into her pajamas and lay down on her bed, thoughts racing through her head of the possibilities. Rolling over to her side, she could see a little through the window and saw Sora walking out of Kairi's house. So, he wasn't staying over like she thought he was. That was a relief.

Soon she found her eyelids getting heavier and heavier, until they closed and Naminé was sent off into a deep slumber.

' '

"Morning, Naminé!" Olette greeted when Naminé opened the door next morning.

"Where's Kairi?"

"I don't know," Selphie shrugged, "we came to her house and their err, butler… said she left early."

"Early?"

"Yeah, early."

Naminé looked down. There was something weird going on here, and she wanted to know what.

"Something wrong?" Olette asked.

"Nothing." Naminé sighed. "Let's walk. Dad needs Matsuzawa this morning so he can't take us to school."

"Okay."

' '

When they arrived at school, Naminé noticed more weird things. Roxas had arrived early as well, without Sora. It was rare that they didn't go to school together, living in the same roof and all.

"Yeah, uhh," Roxas scratched the back of his head, "he left early."

The girls, and now Tidus who had just walked in, had their jaws hanging wide open.

"Sora… left _early_?" Selphie said in disbelief.

"Are you sure you know your own cousin, Roxas?" Tidus inquired in a joking manner, "This is a first. The only time we've ever heard of Sora waking up early is to open _Santa's_ presents on Christmas."

"…he still believes in Santa…?" Roxas raised his eyebrow.

"Shh, we have fun every year making Sora think he exists." Selphie snorted. Naminé stayed back a bit, trying to glue all the pieces together. Soon the conversation turned into one of Tidus and Selphie telling Roxas about Sora still believing in Santa.

When they finished and Selphie and Tidus had started bickering about gummy bears, Naminé pulled Roxas towards her.

"What's up?" he said, not quite accustomed to Naminé wanting to talk to him.

"Did Sora come back late last night?"

"Y-yeah… why?"

"He was at Kairi's house."

"…obviously."

"Never mind." Naminé sighed and walked away. It was like she was the only one who witnessed what was happening. It was driving her insane—what if something terribly wrong had happened?

And the day progressed. Finally, it was social studies, the first period that day that Naminé had with Kairi. Naminé sat down on a desk, waiting for her best friend to arrive and sit beside her so Naminé could ask what had happened.

But, when Kairi arrived, she looked at Naminé, and then away. She did not seat herself beside the blonde, but she stayed away and sat in the farthest seat possible.

At lunch, Sora and Kairi still sat at the table, though they did not talk. The others didn't notice as much as Naminé did, because they just thought that they were having a lover's moment and were having silent time together.

But Naminé knew there was something wrong.

Selphie came up to Naminé in between classes after lunch that day, her face showing concern.

"Is Kairi mad at me, Naminé?" She didn't sit next to me in English class. Or in algebra."

"She's been avoiding me too, Selphie. There's something really wrong here."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing. Just come with me after school today."

"Okay. I guess I could skip a tennis practice… this seems important enough."

' '

Five minutes left of last period. Naminé was tapping her pen impatiently on the table as the teacher wrote on the board. Those seated around her were almost scared of her being impatient—where was the quiet, patient Naminé that went to school at Destiny High until that day, when an impatient, overly serious-looking one took her place? Even Selphie, who was sitting beside her for that period, was intimidated.

When they were dismissed, Selphie and Naminé packed up their bags and left right away. They had asked one of their classmates if they had seen Kairi, and they were told that she had already left.

"Jeez, Kairi's fast."

"Shh, not important, Selphie." Naminé said. Selphie bit her lip. If Naminé was being _this_ serious, something must definitely be wrong.

"Hey, where are you guys going?" Called out a voice from behind them. Selphie turned around.

"Riku… we're gonna find out why Kairi's been avoiding us."

"Oh yeah, she has been." Said the silver haired teenager. "…is Naminé okay?"

"I don't know." Selphie sighed, "She's really uhh… deep in thought about this."

"I'll come along." Riku said.

Naminé mumbled incomprehensibly. Riku and Selphie gave each other confused looks and continued on.

' '

"I'm coming!" said Kairi inside her home. Her voice was muffled since Naminé, Selphie and Riku were just standing outside. She opened the door, and saw her three friends. "Oh."

She shut the door.

"Here, let me handle this." Riku got in front of the two girls and rang the doorbell again. They could hear Kairi sigh with aggravation from inside. She opened the door.

"I'm not talking." She said sternly, and started closing the door when Riku set his foot in in the door's path, disabling Kairi from closing it.

"Kairi, this is important," he said, "you've been avoiding all of us but Sora lately. What's up."

She didn't answer. She stared at Riku's foot and glared up at him. With a swift move, she stepped on Riku's foot. Because of reflexes, Riku's foot moved and Kairi was able to shut the door.

"Goddamnit mother—" Riku refrained from finishing the sentence.

"What a _bitch_!" Selphie said out loud. "Oh my GOD! You know what? I don't care if she ignores us." she flipped her hair and left.

"Wait, Selphie.." Naminé said, but she was too late. The brunette had gone and she was not coming back. She looked at Riku, who still seemed calm but in pain, one because his foot just got stomped on, and two, he couldn't believe Kairi would do that.

"Up for another go at it?" Naminé asked him.

"Hell no."

"Okay." Naminé stepped up and rang the doorbell. She didn't even know if Kairi would answer or just leave them there until they gave up.

Silence.

"I guess she's not answering." Naminé told Riku, who shrugged. Then, just about when they were about to give up and leave, they heard something from inside.

Naminé pressed her ear against the door.

She could hear Kairi sobbing silently.

"Kairi…?" Naminé said with a gentle voice, "We know you're in there."

"Go…. go away…" She sobbed some more, "I don't need you guys… I don't need any..one…"

"Yes you do." Riku said. "Come on, Kai. What happened? We don't like how things are going."

"You won't understand, Riku!" Kairi cried out.

"Well how the hell are we supposed to know unless you tell us?"

"You just _won't!"_

"Kairi, _please_!" Naminé pleaded, "Just tell us!"

"NO!"

"Kairi!"

"No, I'm not telling! Please, go away!"

"Alright, then." Riku shoved his hands into his uniform's pockets. Naminé gave him a look of question and followed him as he walked down the path.

"You're just leaving? Like _that_?"

"If she doesn't want to tell me, I'm not going to force her to. She'll tell us when she's ready." he told her.

"I guess." Naminé looked down as he left. She looked back at Kairi's house one more time before attempting to leave. At the last minute, she made a different decision. She walked up to her porch, and sat down on the steps.

Just waiting.

She could still hear Kairi sobbing, but after a while it stopped and she could hear Kairi trudge up the stairs. When one would enter Kairi's house, the stairs would be the first thing you would see.

Soon, it grew dark. The streetlamps were on by then and she even heard Matsuzawa go out of the house and call out Naminé's name in an attempt to find her. However, the fencing that divided the Fujiwara property and the Sakagami property prevented him from seeing her.

Naminé glanced at her cellphone.

It was 6:17. She had waited nearly an hour and a half outside the porch, and no one noticed her there.

The door opened.

"Naminé?"

Naminé looked back. Kairi was there, shocked.

"What are you doing here?"

Naminé reached into the pocket of her skirt (which was awfully weird, but efficient) and pulled out a small package of Kleenex tissues.

"I'm here to hear you out, Kairi." Naminé smiled, "Riku said he'll just wait… but that's him. People don't know… but I don't like waiting."

"Naminé…"

"So are you still mad at us? Or are you going to claw my eyeballs out now?"

"No…" Kairi broke into tears again, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry I've been avoiding you guys, and I even hurt Riku's foot… but everything for me has been so… so scary! I'm p--… p--…… p--…p--…"

"P--….?" Naminé's eyes widened in shock.

"I'm _petrified_, Naminé!" She sobbed, "I'm afraid!"

"Of what?"

"I'm afraid of losing my mom!" Kairi cried out.

"Why? What happened?" Naminé held out the Kleenex and Kairi took some, wiping her eyes. Streams of tears rapidly poured out from her blue eyes.

"She… she has cancer…."

* * *

**Masigla says,** HAHAHAH. I love you guys. :D Lots of foreshadowing heeeeere.

(You know you wanna press that review button…)


	4. o3 Stitching it Back

**Masigla says, **Fun time is quick update time! Normally, I'd do an alternating pattern and update Awkward Silence since I just update this one… but no one cares. xD Haha. I need inspiration for the other one, however for this one… all I need to do is listen to a Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton to get inspired. That song is so perrrfeeeect.

**I made changes to the previous chapter** – nothing too big, just that it's now Thursday rather than Friday, because this chapter wouldn't make sense if it was a Friday the day they confronted Kairi. That's just about it.

* * *

**The Art of Love**  
_Masigla_

"_I'm petrified, Naminé!" She sobbed, "I'm afraid!"_

"_Of what?"_

"_I'm afraid of losing my mom!" Kairi cried out._

"_Why? What happened?" Naminé held out the Kleenex and Kairi took some, wiping her eyes. Streams of tears rapidly poured out from her blue eyes._

"_She… she has cancer…."_

_

* * *

_

Chapter Three  
_Stitching it Back_

"Cancer?" was Naminé's initial reaction. Her family and Kairi's family had grown extremely close—like they were relatives even though they weren't. This was certainly a shock.

"Y-yes," sniffled Kairi as she attempted to stop the continuous steam of tears from her eyes, "colon cancer."

"Cancer of the intestines." Naminé said softly as she remembered biology class. When did this ever happen? Why didn't Naminé know until now? Kairi silently nodded, baffled with tears. "I'm sorry, Kairi."

"All day I've been trying to tell myself," Kairi tried to regain composure, "that it's not a big deal. My mom will get through it. But still… there's the fear, Naminé."

"I understand. Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

"I wasn't sure if you guys would understand,"

"Why wouldn't we?" Naminé decided to back down and let Kairi cry. It was no use lecturing her on her simple mistake, although there was now that problem of Selphie forgiving Kairi. Naminé was positive Selphie would forgive and forget once she learned of Kairi's family conditions.

At that instant, someone arrived at Kairi's house by foot. Naminé looked up. It was hard to see or recognize this person because of the dark, but she instantly knew whom it was when the voice spoke.

"Kairi, is everything alright?" it was Sora. Naminé stepped off to the side and let him envelop her in his arms. She repeatedly called out his name in tears, crying into his shirt as she held it with intensity. Naminé smiled faintly—Kairi was lucky to have someone like Sora to help her get through tough times like this. Sora turned his head slowly towards Naminé and gave her a questioning look.

"She told you?" he asked. Naminé replied with a nod of her head.

"I guess I'll leave you two here and get back… my parents might be worried sick. She brushed past the young couple, grabbing her backpack from the porch and slinging in over her shoulders. She walked past them again, however she stopped midway.

"Naminé…" Kairi said, "Thank you."

Naminé jerked her head back to face her with a gentle smile on her face, "You're welcome, Kairi."

' '

"Naminé!" Adeline threw her arms around her daughter as she entered the doorway, "I'm so glad you're safe!"

"Mom…" Naminé hugged her mom back, "I was just at Kairi's house…" Her mother took her by the shoulders and pulled away, looking Naminé straight in the eye.

"Really?"

"Yes…"

Adeline sighed, "What a relief. We called your friends to ask where you were, and no one said they had seen you after school. Riku wasn't answering and Selphie was busy, and the others said they didn't see you. We tried calling Kairi the last, and she said she didn't know and said she would be right back, but she never came back to the phone so we hung up."

"Oh, I see."

"Why didn't you tell us you would be there?"

"It was really spontaneous, mom… but it was really important." Naminé smiled at her mom. Adeline laughed softly.

"Well, at least your back. Hurry and change out of your uniform, we'll be having dinner soon." Adeline instructed, "Oh, Tsukasa! Your daughter is back!"

Naminé stood in silence as her mother received no reply from her father. Sighing, she trudged up the stairs and into her room, where she changed out of her uniform and went back down the stairs, where her family was already at the table. Surprisingly, Hayner was home that night. Naminé sat down at the table, across her brother. Even though it was nice that the family was able to eat dinner together, it felt awfully awkward. It was almost rare that they were all together. If Tsukasa wasn't at home, Hayner would be, and vice versa. There were even times when neither one of them were present.

"So, Naminé," Tsukasa asked his daughter as he picked up a piece of sushi and put it into his mouth.

"Yes, dad?" Naminé responded as she watched her dad chew the food and swallow.

"How has your artwork been?"

Naminé looked down at her plate, finding she couldn't answer it satisfactorily. She hadn't done a lot of art lately, even though her father was a nut for it and wanted her to constantly practice.

"Well?"

"I've… been busy, dad. I haven't had the time—"

"Or do you mean you've just been spending too much time with your lazy friends?"

"Tsukasa—" Adeline tried to intervene, but once Tsukasa got started, he was hard to pull back. Hayner found himself staring down at his plate as well, knowing tension was to rise.

"I've told you this before, Naminé." Tsukasa stated firmly, "You cannot let your talents go to a waste! You must practice your art like it was training for a war. This talent will be useless unless you harness it and use it to your advantage."

"Sorry." Naminé said softly.

"Do I make myself clear? I want you to return home right away from now on. No more of that funny business you pulled today. Don't become like your bro—"

Hayner immediately stood up, his hands hard on the table, "May I be excused?"

"Yes, of course, Hayner…" Adeline sighed. Hayner walked out of the room.

"Why does dad have to be so hard on him?" Naminé thought. Their father-son relationship was in shambles. Tsukasa had thought of Hayner as somehow a failure—for Hayner was not "blessed" with the art talent that he thought would be inherited into all of his children. Sometimes Naminé thought that she was just another try. If Hayner did have art talent, Naminé might not have been born. Tsukasa's apparent dislike for Hayner drove a wedge in between them. Hayner was driven to do rebellious actions because he knew his father wouldn't accept him anyways, so why try?

"May I please be excused as well?" Naminé asked, her gaze still downcast.

"Yes…" Adeline said. Naminé stood up and left, going up the stairs as she could hear her parents having a small argument. As she passed by Hayner's bedroom door in the hallway, she could hear his angered expressions.

"Goddamn bastard," she heard him say hatefully. A shiver ran through her spine. Since when was her family so… dysfunctional? Was there even a time when they weren't? Maybe Naminé had been too absorbed with art until then to notice the tension in her surroundings.

' '

The next morning, Selphie was not there to go to school with Naminé. Today, she sat in the car with Kairi and Olette. Kairi told Olette about her mother's condition, and Olette reassured Kairi that no one would be mad.

"I'm sure they'll understand." The brunette gave Kairi a reassuring smile.

"I hope so," Kairi sighed. She knew they would understand, but it was Selphie that Kairi was truly afraid of. Something deep in her told her that Selphie would forgive her, though. Selphie wasn't the type to hold grudges for long. After all, it wasn't like it was Selphie's foot that Kairi had stomped on.

"Here we are," Matsuzawa announced as he pulled into Destiny High's driveway. The girls thanked him and bade him goodbye before he drove off and they went into the school. Olette went in the opposite direction, to the junior hallway. Naminé and Kairi stopped briefly before turning into the corner, leading them into the sophomore hallway.

"I'll go in first, and see if Selphie's here already." Naminé said. Kairi nodded and bit her lower lip in anticipation. Naminé walked forward and glanced to the side.

"The hallway's empt—"

"Oh, look who we have here."

"Shoot," Naminé thought. Selphie had just arrived and was behind Kairi. The auburn haired girl turned around to find that the brunette had a fierce look on her face.

"How _dare_ you even show your face at this school? Or even go with Naminé?" Selphie said with sass in her voice. Naminé briskly walked towards the two, ready to intervene if anything seriously bad happened.

"Selphie, listen to me—"

"NO!" Selphie lashed out, "I was going to listen to you yesterday, Kairi! But _no_, you didn't even give us a chance! Instead, you slammed the door in our faces and even hurt one of your best friends physically!"

"Look, Selphie, I didn't mean to, I was going to—"

"Just... just shut up!" Selphie extended her arm across her side and backhanded Kairi. Naminé let out a loud gasp.

"Selphie!" she cried out, "That's enough!"

"What's going on?" Naminé turned around swiftly. Riku towered behind her, his eyes showing no shock, yet his voice was clear and demanding. "What the _hell _are you doing, Selphie?" He walked past Naminé and towards the brunette.

"Riku! Don't you remember? She _stomped_ on your foot yesterday! Aren't you mad?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because it's a stupid reason to be mad at your best friend."

Kairi's knees gave way, and she fell onto the floor with a thump. She did feel pain in her butt from the impact, but it was nothing compared to the slap Selphie had just given her. Her eyes were wide in shock and tears spilled.

Selphie stood in shock at what Riku said. It _was_ a stupid reason, wasn't it? For all she knew, Selphie didn't even know the real reason behind Kairi's behavior. She didn't even give _her_ a chance to explain herself when she was ready. She looked at the auburn-haired girl who was sitting on the floor, crying.

"Did I really just do that to my best friend?" Selphie thought. At this precise moment, Sora and Roxas had arrived.

"Kairi!" Sora exclaimed, running over to Kairi and embracing her. Roxas ran over as well, stopping beside Naminé to inquire about what happened.

"I'm… not sure…" Naminé answered.

"What did you do, Selphie?" Sora yelled. He was enraged—why would anyone want to hurt someone who was going through such a hard time?

"Sora, calm down." Riku said, "Why don't you all shut the hell up and let someone explain. Care to share, Naminé?"

"M-me?"

"Yeah, you. You know the full story, don't you? Kairi's in no condition to tell us, currently,"

"No shit." Sora said.

"No, you shut up, Sora." Riku rolled his eyes. "Naminé?"

She took a deep breath. Looking at Kairi's tearful eyes, she could sense that Kairi wanted Naminé to say what had happened to get it all over with.

"Kairi… her mother has colon cancer. She was really scared—anyone would be—and didn't know how to tell us, so she avoided us so she could think. She didn't mean any harm."

Selphie gasped, her hand covering her mouth in shock as her eyes started spilling tears as well.

"Oh my God…" she said softly. Roxas and Riku stayed silent. "Kairi… I'm so sorry…. I'm so sorry!" Selphie cried out. Kairi looked at the crying brunette, eyes filled with regret and guilt.

"I'm sorry too, Selphie," Kairi pulled away from Sora and stood up, "I shouldn't have—"

"No, it's my fault! I didn't even think that you would have been going through something like this... I'm so sorry, Kairi!" She ran over and hugged Kairi. Kairi welcomed her reconciled friend.

"It's okay, Selphie."

They all stood in silence as the two cried softly.

' '

"We should get going," Riku suggested.

"Yeah." Roxas agreed. The two girls had calmed down.

"Come on, Kairi." Selphie smiled, her eyes still a little tearful. "Let's go wash our faces… I bet we look soooo bad right now."

This made everyone laugh. For a moment, everything felt normal again. The two proceeded to the restroom while Riku returned to his hallway, and Sora, Naminé and Roxas went to unpack their stuff.

"HEYYY SORA MAN, 'SUP?" Tidus roared from the other end of the hallway.

"Geez, you loudmouth," Sora called out. Naminé sighed. Yep, things were definitely back in order, it seemed.

"Hey Naminé," she heard someone say. She jerked her head up right away and looked to her left. Roxas stood beside her, with a curious look in his eyes.

"Oh, hey, Roxas." Naminé smiled.

"What exactly happened last night?" he asked, "Your parents called my place and said you were missing."

Naminé blushed. "So he had been the one to answer the phone then?" she thought.

"Well," she shrugged, "I was at Kairi's place. Long story."

"I wanna know…" Roxas pouted. Naminé giggled—Roxas looked so funny when he pouted.

"Okay, okay." Naminé stopped laughing and Roxas smiled a cheesy grin much similar to his cousin's, "Riku, Selphie and I went to Kairi's place after school to ask her why she was ignoring us. She didn't want to tell us and even stomped on Riku's foot so he would let her close the door, which she did. Selphie got ticked off and stormed off, while Riku said he would just wait until she wanted to tell him and left too."

"And then, how did you find out?"

"Well, I don't know what came over me, I guess. I think I just did what I did to let Kairi realize that no matter how grave the situation, I'd always be there for her."

"What did you do?"

"I sat on her porch for an hour and a half or so until my mom called her house and she realized I might have been waiting outside. So, she checked, and there I was. It was freezing cold, I swear. Kairi got really touched and told me."

Roxas' eyes widened a tad. "Wow, that's such a… nice thing to do, Naminé."

"Thanks." She smiled at him. He was suddenly a little nervous for some reason. She had smiled at him a number of times before as part of her disposition, but after hearing of how she would hold out in the evening like that just for her friends touched something in him.

He developed a sense of admiration for her.

"Something wrong?" she asked him.

"N…nothing. Well uhh… I'll see you later, Naminé." he said, walking past her.

"Okay." Naminé turned back to face her locker and fixed some things up. Roxas looked back while he walked, watching her as her dainty fingers handled her school materials. She looked so serene, he admitted.

' '

"Hey Naminé," Pence brought up at lunch. Prior to this, Kairi had told the others who didn't know yet about her mother's condition, but encouraged normal conversations again. She didn't want this matter to disrupt their normal activities. "Is Hayner sick or something? He wasn't in any of my classes."

"..what?" Naminé tilted her head in confusion.

"He wasn't in any of my classes, either." Olette added.

"That's weird, I saw him leave before I did."

A moment of silence passed as the group deduced the possible situations.

"…damn." Riku's hand covered his face in frustration.

"I can't believe this," Naminé was on the verge of slamming her head down on the table, "this could only mean he took his car and drove off somewhere!"

"Where could he be, ya?" Wakka asked, his chin cupped by his hands in deep thought.

"I don't know, my brother's unpredictable…" Naminé sighed.

"Here's to hoping he didn't take some girl with him and eloped," Tidus said.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he did, though." Sora added.

"Why would he run away, though?" Roxas asked. Naminé was hesitant—should she tell them about what happened last night? None of them knew much about the personal relationships within her family.

"…he's just weird, haha…" Naminé cracked a smile and tried to laugh to cover up. Everyone stared at her.

"You know that's not working so well, Naminé." Riku smirked.

"Spill, please 'kay thanks." Selphie said.

* * *

**Masigla says**, oh noes:o Where did Hayner mosey off to?

( click the review button and he'll come back alive, I promise :D )


	5. o4 Guidance and Pizza

**Masigla says**, Wow. I haven't been paying attention to my other fic, have I? I seem to be playing favorites. xD There's just so much inspiration for this particular fic… And it was totally not my intention to have Selphie come off as a complete bitch in the last chapter.

And I know I said in chapter two that Kairi's last name was Sakagami… but I changed it to Yamanaka, because it sounds better. :D

* * *

**The Art of Love**  
_masigla_

_"Is Hayner sick or something? He wasn't in any of my classes."_

_"..what?" Naminé tilted her head in confusion._

_"He wasn't in any of my classes, either." Olette added._

_"That's weird, I saw him leave before I did."_

_A moment of silence passed as the group deduced the possible situations._

_"…damn." Riku's hand covered his face in frustration._

_"I can't believe this," Naminé was on the verge of slamming her head down on the table, "this could only mean he took his car and drove off somewhere!"_

_

* * *

_

Chapter Four  
_guidance and pizza_

"It's nothing really important, I guess." Naminé shrugged, "Dad and Hayner aren't good friends… I don't think they are even friends,"

"Are you serious?" Selphie asked, "I thought you all were like… tightly-bonded."

"See, that's where you're wrong." the blonde looked down. "My family is very, very dysfunctional."

"So you mean to say," Kairi tapped her dainty fingers on the table they were all hunched around at, "that the Fujiwara family that has been close friends with my family has been putting up a façade to make it look like they were a nice, happy family when they really aren't?"

Naminé nodded. "Basically."

"God, all these things popping up." Tidus twirled a blitzball on his finger, "We haven't even gotten to Christmas season yet but we have all this drama already."

"Ah well, time's changin', ya?" Wakka said, "We gonna have these complicated things followin' us 'round 'till a long time."

"You're right, Wakka." Riku agreed, his muscular arms folded and his head down in thought, "So very, very, painfully right."

"So what should we do?" Pence asked, "Anyone have suggestions on Hayner's current whereabouts?"

"Well," Olette started, "I think we'd all like to think that the school called Naminé's parents saying that Hayner wasn't in any of his morning classes."

"Yeah." Everyone said in unison.

"Chances are someone—guidance counselor, in particular—is going to come up and talk to Naminé about this to see if she knows anything." she added.

"And it's our job to make sure that if someone does, the class won't start making ugly rumors about any kind of trouble Naminé could have possibly gotten herself into." Selphie suggested.

"Good idea." Kairi smiled briefly then frowned again, "But what will we say if we ask why the guidance counselor wants to see her?"

"I think we should be honest, but be kind of vague about it." Riku said, "If we answer something other than that people use their imaginations to cook up something totally beyond what is considered possible for the human brain to conjure up."

"So what do we say?"

"Family issues."

"Right."

"But still," said Sora, "you can't help but wonder where that guy went off to."

"I hope he's alright," Olette said under her breath. A few seconds later, the bell rang throughout the school, signaling the end of lunch period. The group stood up with their trays of empty food and disposed of them on the way out of the cafeteria.

"Ms. Fujiwara," a woman who was waiting just outside the cafeteria doors leaned on the wall with her arms folded, "would you mind coming with me for a short while?"

Naminé turned to the direction of the voice. It was Mrs. Yoshifumi, the guidance counselor. It was as expected. Mrs. Yoshifumi turned to Kairi, who was right next to Naminé when they were exiting the cafeteria. "Ms. Yamanaka, I trust you can tell Mr. Okabe that Naminé won't be in his class for a few minutes. You have him next period with her, don't you?"

"Yes, Mrs. Yoshifumi. I will." Kairi told her.

"Well then, Ms. Fujiwara. This way, please." and with that, Mrs. Yoshifumi led Naminé away to her office. The others saw this and then resumed normal activity. In history class, Kairi and Selphie had gone a tad earlier to tell Mr. Okabe that Naminé was in the office, and he kindly accidentally skipped over Naminé's name during role call.

''

"So how'd it go?" Sora asked Naminé. It was the end of the day and Naminé wasn't able to return to history class, but went to the class after that. During the five-minute intervals between classes both Kairi and Selphie had made it a point to tell her what the homework was.

"Extremely long." Naminé sighed. "She just asked me if I happened to know where he was. Of course, I said no. But I told her about my family."

"Really?"

"I think it would help." she shrugged, "I mean, … I don't know. I'm just so confused right now."

"That's fine." he said. "Hey, a bunch of us are going down to the beach tomorrow since it's Saturday. We thought it might help get everyone's minds off things and just have fun. Can you come?"

"I have no idea, actually." she said. From the corner of her eye she saw Roxas walk towards them. He stopped beside Sora and asked what was going on, and Sora told him that Naminé had just heard of the plans for Saturday.

"My dad and I kind of got into a fight last night, too,"

"What?" Sora asked. "I thought it was just him and Hayner."

"Well, not quite." Naminé sighed again, "He got kind of ticked because I haven't been doing a lot of art lately,"

"So?" Roxas said, "tell him you're going to the beach to paint there."

"Only I'll have to come back and actually have something or else he'll think I just went there to hang out with my apparently 'lazy friends',"

"That's easy, we'll help you come up with something, Naminé." Roxas smiled.

"Thanks. I guess I'll be able to come, then. But right now I have to go home and talk to my mom about Hayner and stuff." she shut her locker closed and picked up her backpack from the floor. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

" 'kay, bye!"

''

_When you read this note,  
I probably would have already gone a couple of miles from home.  
Sorry about disappearing so suddenly.  
I've kind of been planning it for a long time.  
It's really important that I finish it.  
I'll be back, definitely.  
So don't worry about me running away.  
I just need to take care of some things.  
Don't send the police after me, please.  
Thanks._

_--Hayner_

_PS- please tell Naminé that this doesn't mean she gets to date anyone while I'm away!_

"Your mother told me to give that to you," Matsuzawa explained to Naminé when she set foot into her house. Her mother was out with their father. He told her that they knew he was missing because the school had called and they had talked about possibilities for a while, but right now they were apparently invited to a dinner. Naminé would be eating dinner alone tonight. "it was a note we found in Hayner's room."

"I see," Naminé read over the note again and laughed a little at his spontaneous last line, "thanks, Matsuzawa."

"No problem. Now… your mother suggested ordering pizza for tonight with your friends here and you could watch a movie with them downstairs in the home theater. Your father however said that you should eat dinner alone and work on art right after." He rolled his eyes, "I personally would go with your mother's suggestion."

Naminé smiled. Actually, she was so tired that she couldn't. To Matsuzawa it seemed more of a facial twitch than a smile. He noticed she seemed really stressed out. Her eyes were a little glossy and her face was pale.

"I think I'll do that." she said to him as she climbed up the stairs. "I'll go call some people up. I don't care if dad gets mad… it's not like you can just _force_ yourself to spontaneously come up with something to do for art. It has to come to your thoughts by itself."

"Exactly what I was thinking, Ms. Fujiwara."

Naminé entered her room and practically dove right into her fluffy bed. She had no idea why, but she felt an irresistible urge to scream into her pillow. So she buried her face into the whiteness of her pillow and let out a muffled scream. It was a bad day for her.

After the little venting scenario, she rolled over and grabbed her phone. The first number she dialed was Kairi's.

_"Hello, this is Kairi. I'm not able to answer your call right now, sorry, so leave a message after the beep."_

Oh, poo on that no answer response. Naminé decided that Kairi was probably busy handling something having to do with her mother, so she decided to call Olette next.

"Sorry, Naminé." Olette said when Naminé had offered, "It's my parents' wedding anniversary today, so I can't."

Selphie was out shopping with her friends from summer camp that went to another school.  
Naminé didn't dare to try and call Tidus and Wakka.  
Pence was babysitting his little sister.  
Riku had guitar lessons, and then he had a party to go to for the soccer team from outside of school.  
So she decided to call Sora. Or Roxas. Or both of them. They lived in the same house, it didn't matter.

"Hello?" the other end of the line was Roxas.

"Oh, hey, Roxas! Are you and Sora doing anything tonight?"

"Actually," Roxas paused, "Kairi's over here and we were planning to watch a movie. Kairi told us Selphie sent her a message that you were asking around for people to come over, though."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah."

"So, can you guys come?"

"Not sure. Call back in five and we'll have an answer."

"Okay then." Naminé hung up. At the rate this was going, she would rather just not eat anything and go to her room to paint something rather angsty. Angsty wasn't a word for Naminé. Naminé and angst just did not match for some reason, but today she felt like it.

She turned on her television to kill five minutes. The five minutes were spent mindlessly flipping through a wide array of channels. Out of nearly 200, Naminé could not find anything that was worth five minutes only. But before she knew it, it was already time to call back.

"Oh?" It was Sora's mother who answered this time, "They just left a minute ago."

"Oh. Umm. Okay. Sorry for bothering you, Mrs. Jukodo."

"It's quite alright, Naminé. Take care!"

Then, Naminé decided that the three decided that they didn't want to hang out with her and went someplace else. However, five minutes since Naminé had first called was when the doorbell rang. She sat idly by, still mindlessly flipping channels when the doorbell rang a second time. She concluded that Matsuzawa was probably busy one way or another, or fell asleep or whatnot, and yanked herself out of bed. Running to the door, she stopped in front of it for a few to regain her normal breathing pattern. Her hands took hold of the knob, turning it and then pulling the door open.

"Roxas?" Naminé asked.

"Surprise!" he said gleefully, "We decided to come over and keep you company!"

"We…?" Naminé blinked. She then saw Sora and Kairi running down towards her porch, as if they were catching up. Then she noticed Roxas' arm holding his skateboard.

Oh.

"Jesus, Roxas!" Sora huffed, "You and your freakin' skateboard…" Kairi patted his back, out of breath as well.

"So anyways," Roxas laughed, "Pizza and a movie, Selphie told us. What are we watching?" And just like that, as if it wasn't his first time into her house, he let himself in and put his skateboard where he felt it was safe. "Awesome house, by the way. It's really… artsy."

"Uhh, no duh." Kairi said sarcastically. She abruptly shifted the strap of her bag that was nearly falling off her shoulders. "I brought DVDs that we were thinking of watching at home before you called."

"Wow, you guys." Naminé was still kind of adjusting to the current situation. "I totally did not expect this. I thought you guys went somewhere else."

"Aww, phooey on that." Sora pinched Naminé's cheek, "We were getting bored at home anyways. Plus, we're almost never here even though you probably have the biggest TV out of all of us, considering you have a home theater."

Naminé laughed. That was true. It was a wonder why her place was almost never selected for movie nights like this. It was probably because her friends had always been and always will be intimidated by Naminé's dad. But now, when they were told that Naminé was just home alone, they decided to come. It was a funny thought.

Naminé led the three down to the basement where a 50-inch television stood. Across from it were three rows of red seats, just like a real movie theater. There was even a popcorn maker to the side of the seats, but it was rarely used because pizza became the main course for home movie nights like this one.

"So, here are our selections:" Kairi stood in front of the TV, three DVDs in her hands. She held them up one by one. " 'The Scrapbook', 'House of Flying Keyblades' and this really random one I found called 'Kingdom Hearts'. No idea what it's about."

"Oh, God, Kairi," Sora moaned, "Not 'The Scrapbook'! You've watched that one a million times!"

"Yeah, but not with you guys. It'd be interesting to see if one of you cries." She grinned.

"My vote goes to 'House of Flying Keyblades'. It sounds fun." Roxas raised his right hand up, "That 'Kingdom Hearts' one is cooky. I've watched it before. It's about the darkness and people's hearts and stuff like that. It was kinda confusing."

"Okay then. I guess we're watching 'House of Flying Keyblades'. Is that alright with you, Naminé?"

"Of course!" Naminé replied. Her attention to the movie selection was only half-witted. Her left ear was immersed into the music the pizza place was playing while she was on hold for a little while. When the employee came back, Naminé placed in delivery orders for two large, thin crust cheese pizzas, which would be on their way "in 30 minutes or less or you get free pretzels!"

They decided to start watching the movie even though the pizza had not arrived. Matsuzawa came in to check on them once in a while, and on his fourth check he brought the pizza and soda down with him. They opened the first box. Sora and Kairi were surprisingly the first ones to indulge. When the couple had gotten their pieces Naminé had her eyes on one piece that just seemed better than the others.

She wasn't the only one thinking that.

She she reached out to grab the slice, she was a little startled to find that she had not touched the pizza.

She had touched Roxas' hand that was already on the slice.

The two suddenly found themselves staring at each other. Sora and Kairi noticed the silence and the lack of movement and stared at the two.

Awkward moment.

"Oh, sorry." Naminé quickly took her hand off his.

"Uh, that's okay. You want this slice? You can have it if you want…" Roxas told her.

"Nah, that's okay." She reassured him by grabbing a different slice. Roxas replied with an "okay then" and grabbed the slice that his hand was on. Then the movie watching resumed.

About halfway through the movie, the two boxes of pizza had been consumed. They had just started on the second bottle of soda, and they weren't about to stop.

"Hold up," Sora said. Naminé paused the movie. "Bathroom break?"

Kairi laughed. "Right. Go already!" She pushed Sora gently and he stood up to go to the bathroom. And as if the caller was some sort of God of Timing, Naminé's cellphone rang. She took it out and looked at the caller ID. It read "PAYPHONE", so Naminé wasn't so sure if she should pick it up.

Paranoia kicking in, Naminé let the phone ring and didn't answer. A little later it prompted her of a new voice message. Sora had returned from the bathroom already but Naminé requested for a little more time so she could check the message out.

_"Hey, Naminé. It's Hayner. Do you miss me? I know you do! I know everyone does! Anyways. I wanted to call just to let you know I'm alive if you're worried or something. Okay. Bye…. I hope you haven't been dating. Even though I've only been gone for basically a day. You never know."_

_

* * *

_

**Masigla says,** Oh yay! Hayner's alive! Rejoice! Because in case you forgot, he's smart. XD And z0mg. Namixas moment!

(click review button for more namixas goodness in the next chapter :D)


	6. o5 To Change Someone

**Masigla says,** "Haha, oh _snap_! I'm sorry for the overall disappearing act, guys. You must all hate me now. ;.; The plain truth is that for a long while after beating _Kingdom Hearts 2_ knowing it would be the last game in the series (for a while, at least), I lost utter interest in the fandom and got absorbed in other ones as well, namely _The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya _(watch it!) and _Xenosaga_ (play it!). But strangely enough, I suddenly got the spark of reinterest (if that word exists) while rereading this to continue it."

* * *

**The Art of Love**  
_masigla_

_Paranoia kicking in, Naminé let the phone ring and didn't answer. A little later it prompted her of a new voice message. Sora had returned from the bathroom already but Naminé requested for a little more time so she could check the message out._

"_Hey, Naminé. It's Hayner. Do you miss me? I know you do! I know everyone does! Anyways. I wanted to call just to let you know I'm alive if you're worried or something. Okay. Bye…. I hope you haven't been dating. Even though I've only been gone for basically a day. You never know."_

* * *

Chapter Five  
_to change someone_

"Guys!" Naminé uttered under her breath, her hand nearly dropping the cellphone. "I-It's him! It's Hayner…"

"Hey, wait, what?!" Sora exclaimed, "He called your cellphone?"

"Using a payphone, yes," she responded, "I didn't answer in case it was a dangerous call, but he left a message."

"What does it say, Naminé?" Kairi gently situated her hand on her best friend's shoulder and calmly looked her in the eyes. "Did he say where he is or what he's doing?"

"No… he just called to let us know that he's alright." Naminé blushed slightly, almost haphazardly remembering to leave out the part about dating.

"Aren't you going to tell your parents?" Roxas scratched his cheek lightly with his forefinger. Naminé averted her gaze at him with unsure eyes. She wasn't sure what to do.

"I don't know…" she replied, "I feel like, if I do, I would be ruining his fun. I _am_ worried about him, but I don't want him to come home… until he's finished what he has to do."

A moment of silence elapsed between the four, broken only when Sora clumsily sneezed and ran to the bathroom for some Kleenex.

"She's right, you know," Kairi suddenly said, "Her parents would most likely have the police trace the call and have them search nearby wherever that is."

At this moment, Sora returned with the entire box of Kleenex in his hands. "S-Sorry about that," he then mumbled. Kairi laughed and prepared to throw a pillow at him, but decided not to when Sora took a few steps back in utter fear.

"Shall we get back to the movie, then?" Naminé suggested. Relieved, Sora sighed and sat back down beside Kairi then smoothly snaked an arm around her shoulders. Kairi rested her head on Sora's shoulder in response, while Naminé and Roxas continued to watch the two awkwardly. Naminé decided she had better press play before the two blondes were subjected to any unwanted affection showing. Fortunately for them, throughout the remainder of the movie nothing beyond the occasional peck on the cheek was exhibited. When the movie finished, the three helped Naminé clean up and together with her, made their way up to the doorway.

"Well, see you tomorrow at the beach, Naminé! 10 AM's the meeting time, I think!" Sora called out as he and Kairi walked hand-in-hand down the cobblestone path towards her gate. Naminé smiled at the two and waved meekly while nodding her head in agreement. It wasn't 'till they reached the gate that she noticed something amiss.

"Roxas, aren't you going to go with them?" She asked in disbelief.

"Nah," Roxas grinned a little and folded his arms, "I figured I'd probably hurl if I went with the two of them, so I'm going to leave a little later. Is that okay with you?"

"S-Sure, it is, of course," Naminé said, "But I don't stay too long or my parents will get home."

"Okay, okay," Roxas chuckled, wondering at why the scenario of him being in the same place as Naminé's parents would be such a bad thing. He then took a quick look around what he'd only describe as the lobby of Naminé's grand home and surveyed the paintings and sketches displayed.

"Something wrong?" Naminé inquired while she locked the front door and approached her guest.

Roxas made his way to one of the sketches. It was one of a caged bird, downcast and drab. "Did you paint and draw all of these yourself?"

"Mmhmm," she replied, "I did that sketch not too long ago."

"A caged bird, huh?" He commented, still looking at the sketch and all its detail. Through every stroke, he felt the emotion she felt while sketching it resonating within him. It was a simple yet powerful piece of artwork that left him wondering what compelled her to draw something like that.

Naminé took this moment to join him by the sketch and looking at it. "Yes… that's how I feel like, most of the time. Like a bird who can't spread its wings and fly, because it's trapped in a cage by its owner and can't get out. I know being that way is probably what's best for my art because I can do more of them, but without Kairi and everyone else, I would probably be a full-fledged loner. I should thank my brother, too."

Roxas said nothing in response, only giving a small nod to at least let her know that he heard every single thing he said. He glanced around the room again, and noticed a remarkable pattern in her art that she herself might not have even thought about.

They were all relatively monotonous in color, as if showing the drabness and grayness in life. Even if she did use color, it'd only use different shades of the same color, and didn't' seem to explore the possibility of union within millions of different other colors. Most of her human portraits did not show their face, or only showed a mouth that curled ever so slightly downwards in a subtle frown. Rain, darkness, and always only one main subject. Always alone, never with anything else to accompany it but the surroundings that only made the loneliness far more obvious. Taking another look at Naminé, she beheld a small smile on her face, as if she had no idea of what she expressed in her work.

Loneliness.

But he understood perfectly. He knew that every painting, every sketch she made: they were all made with overwhelming feelings of loneliness and isolation pouring from heart to her hands to the canvas. Something welled up inside Roxas when he left after a smaller conversation of praising her and looking at her art that night.

He wanted to change her.

' '

It took some convincing over dinner, but her parents had reluctantly resigned and let Naminé go to the beach that day. It wasn't the first time she had gone to the beach with her friends, but for some reason she was much, much more excited for this one particular time.

Maybe it was the excitement in found in having another conversation with her newest blonde-haired friend, who turned out to be more of an art-expert than meets the eye. Either way, Naminé found herself awake at 6 AM nevertheless. Her mother found it unnatural for Naminé to have been up that early during a weekend, as even the organized teenager with the proper sleeping pattern would prefer to sleep in then. The mother, on the other hand, was up all night watching out for news of her son. Of course, Naminé was not worried one bit, as she knew of his well-being.

Naminé even chimed into the kitchen that morning, humming an unguided and spontaneous tune. Her father gave her an unnoticed suspicious glance, while her mother, less than awake without the effects of her morning coffee stood confused by her daughter's own actions.

"Mom, dad," she said happily, "Do you want any toast?"

"We'll pass, thank you, dear," her mother answered. Her father merely raised the newspaper up to his face again.

After eating breakfast, Naminé took the time to decide which art supplies to bring to the beach. Even though she expected she wouldn't even get much of it done at the beach, she figured that she might as well make it really seem as if though she were going there to paint or draw. She concluded that bringing charcoal, colored oil pastels and her sketchbook would be the most practical, since it would be a hazard to bring an easel and everything else needed for a full-fledged painting to the beach. Then she took a quick shower to refresh her already sweating from the tropical weather body and tried on her swimsuit. It was a white swimsuit with a line of green four-leafed clovers across the front. Naminé had picked it out shopping with Selphie, Olette and Kairi the summer before school started. Unsurprisingly, Selphie desperately begged for Naminé to try on at least one bikini during that particular shopping trip, but Naminé absolutely refused to do such a thing. Olette had to convince Selphie of how uncharacteristic it would be for Naminé to pick out a bikini, and that was the only way Selphie backed down. Remembering that comedic day, Naminé laughed softly as she pulled on some short blue shorts and a large white tee over her swimsuit. That had always been her default beach outfit.

As 10 AM approached rapidly, Naminé found herself a little restless. She couldn't control her mindless flipping of channels on TV, and even Kairi found this behavior a little strange for Naminé when the redhead decided to hitch a ride with her next-door-neighbor to the beach. Kairi then told Naminé that she had visited her mother the night before, and that the doctors assured her that everything would be all right. Then she went on saying how silly the whole fight she and Selphie had was, and was thankful that it didn't look as if though she was going to lose her mother, after all.

"Are you… okay?" Kairi asked. The redhead had been spending time focusing on nitpicky details like if her legs were perfectly shaved and if her toes "didn't look nasty."

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Naminé answered cheerfully. Kairi flinched a little. She knew Naminé was generally a happy person on the outside, but she never showcased it in a way that was so… bright and comedic, in a way. The two got so completely absorbed with trying not to be too excited about the beach trip that they lost track of time, even. At 10:03 AM, Naminé and Kairi hurriedly shuffled into the car and nearly yelled at Matsuzawa to "step on it." Arriving at 10:12, they were the last two to arrive. Surprisingly, Sora had gotten there earlier.

"I tried the rubber chicken idea," Roxas explained.

"Man, way to go, BHK! I'm so proud of you!" Selphie laughed and gave Roxas a nice, hard pat on the back that was almost comparable to actually slapping the living daylights out of the new kid. She wore a yellow polka-dotted bikini, which strangely fitted her as much as the song did. This made Tidus a little awkward at first, which was also a little suspicious and spontaneous, but his attention was quickly fully reverted to blitzball with Wakka. Kairi wore a white bikini but did not bask in its full glory until she pulled off the lavender short-shorts she was wearing it with before jumping into the water with Selphie. Olette wore a green bikini that had something more of a halter-top for the upper body, and a white sarong. All boys donned swimming trunks, although Pence wore a big red shirt over his black shorts.

While Selphie, Olette and Kairi were playing volleyball in the water, the guys occupied themselves with blitzball in the deeper parts of the water. Naminé decided to stay put on the shore and possibly attempt to make a sandcastle at first. Then she absently wondered where Roxas possibly could have been. She'd seen Sora, who was busy being a complete spaz and dork at Kairi in her flattering bikini, but no signs of his cousin after he had declared that he used a rubber chicken to wake Sora up.

"WOAH, LOOKIN' GOOD, BHK!!" Selphie hollered. It wasn't until then that Naminé realized where he was. Looking up from her mindless fidgeting with the wet sand, she saw a fairly medium-sized wave coming towards the shore from the distance. And on the wave rode a white, grey and black surfboard. And riding said surfboard was none other than Roxas, who Naminé guessed gained the ability to surf at the same time he gained the ability to skateboard. As he seemed to approach the area of beach where Naminé situated herself, she realized that he had the exact same exhilarated and peaceful look on his face as when she saw him skateboarding. She did imagine that surfing would probably be more refreshing than skateboarding, but she suddenly found herself studying the features of his face like before, as well. Immediately, she haphazardly waddled to the blanket where she left her art materials, and wiped herself with a towel before settling down and, almost as if she were in a panic, grabbed her sketchbook and sat down.

"Now, my black charcoal…" Naminé reached out for the dark instrument, but she caught herself. As Selphie's cheering continued in the background, she failed to notice Roxas reaching shore and, surfboard in arm, approaching Naminé to see what she was going to draw since she looked so inspired.

"No, I'll need color for this one…"

Roxas looked on curiously, having set his board to stand relatively near him and now bending over to look over her shoulders. Beads of seawater mixed with perspiration trickled down his face and off his hair. He watched as she clumsily opened her case of oil pastels. Most of the cool colors had been used, such as shades of dark blue or purple, but the vibrant and warm colors like pink or orange had never been touched. Roxas was reminded of all the monotonous art displayed in her home. Yet he suddenly found that Naminé's hand had instead reached for _yellow_. Not gray or dark blue or some dark color. _Yellow_.

"A _lot_ of color."

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**  
Masigla says,** oh my! What's this? A change? Whatever shall we do? Stay tuned, folks! Hopefully it won't take me as long to update. Ahahaha. 


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